


On Keeping Secrets

by audioSalix



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Fluff, Gen, Vaxleth is not really like it's crucial to the story but Keyleth isn't even there, and are bad at communicating, discussions of child death, it's just sibling fluff, mentioned perc'ahlia but not enough for a tag, pregnancy mention, the twins love each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 12:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12132723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/audioSalix/pseuds/audioSalix
Summary: “Ok so, don’t freak out, but- I’m at the hospital right now, and-”“Vax, you cannot call me out of nowhere, start the conversation like that and expect me to not be freaked out by this.”





	On Keeping Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> Hey what's up I'm speedrunning fic writing and I didn't proof read this, enjoy.

After another long day at work, Vex really wants nothing more than to go home and fall asleep on the couch while watching trashy television, possibly while her husband cooks her dinner and attends to her every need.

She’s just about to throw the car into reverse when her phone in the the passenger seat starts buzzing. She nearly ignores it, but at a glimpse of the caller ID (“Stabby (knife emoji)”), turns off the engine, and picks up the call.

“Ok so, don’t freak out, but- I’m at the hospital right now, and-”

“Vax, you cannot call me out of nowhere, start the conversation like that and expect me to not be freaked out by this.”

“Vex, please,” he says imploringly. “Look, I need you to come- I’m fine, don’t worry, Keyleth’s also fine, nothing has happened. Well, I guess something has happened, that’s why I’m calling, but, it’s not really a bad thing? Just. I don’t want to talk about this over the phone, really, how soon can you get here?”

She blinks wordlessly, taken aback momentarily by his uncharacteristic rambling.

“I’m still in the carpark at work. I’ll come now- do you need anything?”

There’s a staticy silence that Vex interprets as Vax shaking his head at the phone. “I’ll meet you at reception.” He hangs up abruptly, and Vex is left sitting in her car staring out the windscreen, trying to puzzle out the situation.

Vax is waiting in a chair in the foyer when Vex arrives, and jumps to his feet when he spots her, some tension visibly easing from his shoulders. He wordlessly takes her hand, cutting her off as she tries to question what the fuck was going on, and leads her away down a nondescript hallway, with a mild urgency. They walk for a minute or two, before Vax starts talking.

“I’m not really sure how to tell you this, so I’m just going try and say it straight out. You know Keyleth’s been unwell for a few days now, which isn’t really the point, and, well-” He sighs, and shoots a nervous glance across at her. “Gods- Keyleth’s pregnant, Vex. We’re having a baby, or- were having a baby. I don’t know, I didn’t pay attention to most of what the doctor said, but there was something about an infection and, immune systems can get kind of weird, so even though it was way too early for any of this to be happening,” he leads her through a door and stops, suddenly, taking a shaky breath to steady himself. He gestures weakly at the cot in front of them. “Meet your niece, I guess.”

Vex blanches, absolutely incredulous. “This is an awfully elaborate prank you’ve pulled here.” Vax laughs drily, stepping away from her and towards the cot. 

“This is all a bit messed up. A lot messed up, really. She was only 25 weeks- we didn’t even have a name for her yet. It wasn’t like it was a secret, really, just. You know. We were waiting to tell you, getting used to it ourselves, and then you and Percy were away with his family, and we didn’t want to make it about us. Then Keyleth was sick, and now, well. Keyleth’s asleep, and on quite a lot of painkillers. We’ve been here a fair few hours.”

“Holy shit, Vax’ildan,” Vex breathes, barely able to form words through the way her brain was spinning.

“I don’t suppose saying I was planning to tell you when we went out for lunch tomorrow changes anything?”

Vex gapes at him, unsure how or where to begin with…. Well, with everything that was happening.

“You can’t-” Vax frowns and hushes her. She continues, lowering her volume. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m not laughing,” he offers.

She studies his face, trying to puzzle out the situation. Her brother seemed stressed, none of the usual glimmer that accompanied his jokes across his face. Her confusion started to melt away, leaving her with a jolt of irritation.

“You really didn’t think to inform me of this, at any point?”

Vax crosses his arms defensively. “You didn’t tell me you’d gotten hitched for months, Vex’ahlia. Hell, if it weren’t for Percival not being able to stop himself from running his mouth, maybe I’d still have no idea.”

“This is different!”

“How is this any different! At least I was planning on telling you, I just,” he huffs out a breath. “Didn’t get a chance.”

“This is a person, Vax. This-” she gestures to the baby, glancing down. What she’d thought of as a cot earlier was more like an incubator, and she rests her hand on the top of it. “This is a big deal. The kind of thing I thought you’d want to tell your sister about. I can understand giving it time, but nearly six whole months? You didn’t think people might want to know? I know I’ve been busy, but that doesn’t mean I want to be completely out of touch with what’s happening in the life of my own twin brother.”

Vex looks up from the incubator for the first time, and trails off slowly. Vax seems smaller, somehow, than when she’d seen him before. In the dim light of the room, the dark circles under his eyes seem more pronounced, his hair messier than she’d seen in a while, and his hand was gripping the edge of the table hard enough to turn his knuckles white. She was still struggling to accept that this wasn’t some kind of elaborate fever dream that she was having, but as she glances back down at the cot, really taking in for the first time how many wires and tubes there were, how small the baby really is, it occurs to Vex the magnitude of the situation that her brother had found himself in. How much her twin really needs her right now.

“Vax….” she murmurs gently, reaching out to pry his hand away from the edge of the table and lace her fingers with his.

His shoulders slump. “Fuck.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. You can be mad, I was an idiot. There’s just,” his voice cracks and he clears his throat. “There’s a lot going on right now.”

“Is she going to be alright?” Vex asks gingerly.

He sighs. “It’s too early to know. There’s nothing super wrong with her, no surgeries or anything like that but, well. With babies born this early, it’s pretty much just trying to get them from day to day. There’s stuff that still has to develop, eyes, lungs. She’ll be in here for a while, I think.” He wiggles his fingers at the incubator. “The wires won’t be forever.”

“She’s a little fighter, if she’s anything like you,” she murmurs. “You’ve gotten yourself through a lot; she’ll pull through. And you and Keyleth have each other. And me, of course. And Percy, although I’m not sure if that’s necessarily reassuring.” Vax cracks a grin.

She nudges his shoulder gently with her own. “And hey, if you’re really lucky, she’ll take after her amazing aunt. Then nothing can stop her.”

Vax laughs at that, standing a little straighter. “We can only hope.” He reaches out, ruffling her hair in the way he knows will annoy her. “Hopefully a little taller, though.”

Vex sticks out her tongue without even a glance in his direction, and feels him shake a little with laughter in response.

“Hey,” he asks softly. “We’re not allowed to pick her up right now, not for a while, but…. Would you like to touch her?” He reaches into the incubator, demonstrating, and gently trails his pinkie finger over his daughter’s hand for her to grab at. She moves around to the other side, not wanting to disturb their contact, and gingerly extends her arm towards the baby- towards her niece, just as Vax did. Slowly, her tiny hand balls into a fist around Vex’s finger, and Vex is suddenly fighting a well of emotions in her chest.

“She is kinda cute.”

He scoffs. “She’s more than ‘kinda’ cute.”

Vex nods. “She’s perfect.”


End file.
